Bleak picture of ailing North West
FINANCIAL accountability in the North West weakened during the fifth administration when it was run by embattled former premier Supra Mahumapelo, during former president Jacob Zuma’s years in office, the National Treasury and Auditor-General’s Office say.
They were briefing MPs yesterday on the month-old process of national intervention in the province.
“We are worried that there is a worsening of managing public finances in the province,” director-general of finance Dondo Mogajane told Parliament’s ad hoc committee on the section 100 intervention, which saw President Cyril Ramaphosa move to place it under national administration last month.
Mogajane said it was not a case of the North West running out of money, but of the province failing to respect supply-chain rules and use the funds to deliver basic services.
He also noted that it had “a healthy balance” of R1.4 billion at the end of the last financial year. “Supply-chain management is a big challenge in the province. We have a team working with officials through the problems.”
Mogajane said it had ratcheted up R834 million in underspending, with the departments of Health, Education and Public Works being the main culprits.
He said unspent funds of about R300m had reverted back to the Treasury for allocation “to other provinces which are spending”.
He said that in terms of road infrastructure, the North West had a backlog of R36bn in work, yet it was sitting with R140m underspent by the relevant department.
Mogajane confirmed that the province had accumulated R15.3bn in irregular expenditure, and suggested the premier’s office had failed to provide the necessary leadership to boost accountability. The Public Works and Roads Department was responsible for R550m in irregular expenditure.
Success Maroka, from the Auditor-General’s office, said: “When we looked at the audit outcomes, we looked at the five years; there has been an increase to 15 qualified audits in the last financial year.
“Only the Education Department has not received a qualified audit.The Department of Finance is the only one where the control environment is good.”
Schalla van Schalkwyk, the deputy business executive in the office, added that there had been a clear “regression over the past five years”, which was attributed to the department lacking chief financial officers as well as a lack of skill on the part of incumbents.